


In Media Res: Juliet and Dr. Heart

by CarnalCoffeeBean



Series: In Media Res--House Rubortem [4]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 05:17:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17843186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarnalCoffeeBean/pseuds/CarnalCoffeeBean
Summary: This link will take you to the next part ofHouse of Secrets, when it's up!





	In Media Res: Juliet and Dr. Heart

The door swings open, and it’s quiet for a moment. Silent. Still. The desk, the chairs, the books. Dr. Heart’s face. The computer monitor with a hell of a lot of incriminating evidence still open.

Juliet doesn’t breathe. Dr. Heart walks into the room. Silent. Still. Quiet, confident, shoulders down, chin tilted at a friendly angle—the most at ease Juliet’s ever seen her in the three years Heart’s been dating her best friend.

Dr. Heart steps behind the chair. Reaches forward, rests her hand on the controller. The monitor’s paused video starts, bursts out into a hologram inches away from their faces, a 3-D imaging of the face of Adrian Silex, the most wanted man in all of Mars, morphing into someone else entirely. Someone new, someone strange, someone unidentifiable.

“This will not be a problem, I presume,” Dr. Heart says, voice cold, abrupt.

Juliet turns to look at her.

“You will not tell Avery. It would break her.”

“What the— “

“Your mother.”

A chill runs down Juliet’s back, then another. Endless. She cannot speak through her heart in her throat, now pumping wildly, but damn, she tries.

“If you come after anyone, Heart— “

“She’s sick. Painfully so. I can procure some of the medication she needs. All of it, in fact.” Heart shifts. Clicks the monitor back to the screen it was on when she walked in, a picture of Avery smiling in the middle of an Earth flower garden, absorbed in the dandelions at her feet.

“You are… dear... to Avery.” The word drips, venom on her tongue. She turns to look at Juliet with those cold, calculating eyes.

“I’m sure we can come to some form of an arrangement, don’t you think?” Dr. Heart smiles pleasantly—a shark’s smile, all teeth, empty eyes.

“I— ,” she begins.

“You’d like to consider the alternatives, then.” A dull, muted pressure at her side, slipping up, up, drawing itself back to a point angled between her ribs. “Dying young—such a cruelty, such a waste of beauty.” 

A gloved hand tips her head back. Dr. Heart meets her gaze, watches her with a little curiosity, like a child watching a butterfly spasm on a pin. “And your mother…”

“Look,” she gets out through the panic clenched in her chest like a fist, “I won’t tell anyone, okay? I won’t. Just—leave them out of it. Avery and my mom.”

The hands drop. Juliet breathes, in and out, quick, fast breaths. Fuck pretending to breathe normally.

“Then we have an agreement.” Dr. Heart pulls the chair back out from the desk. Waits for her to regain use of her legs. Puts a hand between her shoulder blades to help her up.

“You— “ her mouth is dry. She swallows, tries again. “This isn’t— hurting— “

“That information is not part of the agreement.” Dr. Heart’s hand is cold, pushing as she steers Juliet toward a wall. She puts in a code, lightning-quick, and the wall slides open to the outside. 

“But no, you can sleep easy tonight. As far as I know, my actions have not caused harm to anyone.”

The hand presses hard, once, pushes her towards the stairs, then releases.

“A pleasant evening, Juliet. We’ll be in touch.”

Juliet looks back, just once. Dr. Heart watches her, smiling placidly, the whiteness of her teeth gleaming in the dark.

**Author's Note:**

> [This link will take you to the next part of _House of Secrets_ , when it's up!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17674649/chapters/42164693)


End file.
